<p>With Real ID needed to board domestic flights beginning later this week, a visibly frustrated Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias urged residents on Monday to make sure they even need a Real ID before standing in a potentially long line.</p><p>The federal government is requiring anyone boarding a domestic flight to show either a passport or a Real ID starting Wednesday.</p><p>“The vast majority of people do not need a Real ID before Wednesday,” Giannoulias said, venting about false or misleading information surrounding Real ID.</p><p>“We have been saying for months, and over a year now that even after May 7 you will still be able to get a Real ID,” he said.</p><p>Individuals with a valid U.S. passport, Military ID, Green Card, Global Entry and those under the age of 18 will not need a REAL ID to fly under the new regulation.</p><p>Regular driver’s licenses are still valid on the road and state issued ID’s are still valid as a means of identification, Giannoulias said. “We could not be more clear on this.”</p><p>Individuals should also not expect to walk out of a Secretary of State facility with their Real ID. The official wait time to get a Real ID is around 2-3 weeks, though most people have received it in up to seven days, Giannoulias said.</p><p>Anticipating longer lines at the DMV, the Secretary of State’s Office opened a Real ID ‘supercenter’ in the Loop, at 191 N. Clark St., which processes roughly 1,600 IDs daily.</p><p>“The line [at the supercenter] is like nothing we’ve ever seen in the state of Illinois,” Giannoulias said.</p><p>People waiting in line for IDs that they do not need right now are also making it difficult for individuals that need to access regular Secretary of State services, he warned.</p><p>Giannoulias did not hide his exasperation over the lack of public awareness that has resulted in long and hectic lines forming outside Secretary of State facilities throughout Illinois.</p><p>“I guess I could light myself on fire six months ago or a year ago and talk about getting it done,” he said. “Outside of lighting myself on fire, we’ve literally had over a dozen press conferences on Real ID, we’ve literally created a whole website for something that by the way is a federal mandate.”</p>
Politics
via Chicago Sun-Times – Politics https://ift.tt/fS25yeJ
May 5, 2025 at 03:53PM
